Abstract
Mangrove forest plays a crucial role in climate change mitigation by storing carbon in its above-belowground pools. However, this forest remains under considerable high exploitation from the expansion of settlement and aquaculture pond that likely results in much CO 2 release to the atmosphere. The objective of this research is to estimate biomass carbon stocks of mangrove rehabilitated areas in Sinjai District, South Sulawesi. We used a line transects method for mangrove vegetation survey and determined above-belowground biomass and carbon stock using published allometric equations and a conversion factor, respectively. The results showed that the mean values of carbon stocks in above-belowground biomass were 125.48±93.48 Mg C ha -1 and 60.23±44.87 Mg C ha -1 . The aboveground biomass stored more carbon than the belowground pool. However, low planting distance in mangrove rehabilitation and conversion of mangrove area into settlements and aquaculture ponds in the last three decades have affected forest structure and biomass carbon magnitudes. Therefore, preservation of intact mangrove and restoration of disturbed forests with pay attention to planting distance should consider. Besides, halting the expansion of settlements and aquaculture ponds are worthwhile options to maintain and possibly increase biomass carbon stocks.
Highlights
Mangrove forests play an important role in climate change mitigation by acting as sinks of carbon (Murdiyarso et al 2015; Alongi et al 2015)
We identified species names of all mangrove trees and noted diameters at breast height (DBH) 1.3 m above the ground surface or 30 cm above the highest prop root for Rhizophora sp. using a measuring tape
The mean value of trees diameter (6.92±2.77 cm) in this area was lower than the value in the similar age (33 years) mangrove rehabilitated area in Can Gio Mangrove Biospheres Reserve (CGMBR), Ho Chi Minh City, Mekong Delta (10.5 cm) (Nam et al 2016)
Summary
Mangrove forests play an important role in climate change mitigation by acting as sinks of carbon (Murdiyarso et al 2015; Alongi et al 2015). Mangroves are among the most significant carbon-rich forests in tropical areas (Donato et al 2011) and contribute about half of the total blue carbon emissions from coastal ecosystems (Pendleton et al 2012). Mangroves are currently being degraded and deforested at alarming rates (Murdiyarso et al 2015). Hamilton and Casey (2016) calculated that the deforestation of worldwide mangroves extent became lower during 2000 – 2012 (from 17.3 million to 16.4 million or approximately 5%) due to increase policy intervention to rehabilitate this ecosystem. Deforestation and degradation rates at up to 0.39% per year since 2000 had contributed to an annual carbon emission of about 0.21–0.45 Pg CO2 to the atmosphere (Hamilton and Friess 2018).
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